Ingredients (2 servings)

  • 250g Haggis, thinly sliced
  • 150g dried pasta
  • 1 small onions, peeled and chopped
  • 1 clove garlic, crushed
  • 1 stick celery, diced
  • 1 small courgette, diced
  • 1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes
  • 1 teaspoon mixed dried herbs
  • 110g white, tangy cheese
  • oil for frying

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 200C/Gas 6/fan oven 180C.
  2. Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the packet. Drain & set aside.
  3. Heat the oil in a saucepan & fry the onion, garlic, courgette, celery & herbs gently for 3 minutes before adding the tomatoes and their juice. Simmer gently for a further five minutes, remove from the heat & add the drained pasta.
  4. Tip half of the mixture into a greased, ovenproof dish. Lay the haggis on top (romove the skins first if necessary) then cover with the remaining pasta mix. Crumble the cheese over the top and bake for approx. 20 minutes until the cheese is melting into "blobs" - slightly longer if you prefer it bubbling & gloden.

Recipe from "30 Ways with Haggis" by Lynne Woods & Doug Vickers - Available to buy in store now

Whether your preference is a butter-soft fillet steak, tasty sirloin or thrifty cut like bavette or skirt, care and attention should be paid when cooking your beef. With only a few minutes leeway between rare and well-done, timing is key. We’ve put together some tips to help you from start to finish.

Select your best frying pan

We recommend frying your steak, although you can grill it if you prefer. A heavy-duty, thick-based frying pan, ideally with a non-stick coating, will achieve good results, as will a heavy griddle pan or skillet. These types of pans get really hot - ideal for getting that slightly sweet, charred finish to the outside of your meat.

If the pan isn’t big enough for all your steaks, don’t be tempted to squeeze them in anyway. Cook them one or two at a time then leave them to rest as you cook the remainder of your batch.

Pick an oil

Gordon Ramsay suggests using groundnut oil for cooking steaks - it has a mild flavour and can withstand very high temperatures without burning. Never use butter, unless you want to add a knob at the very end for a creamy finish.

The jury’s out when it comes to how you apply the oil. Some chefs like to oil the steak then add it to a hot dry pan, while others add a splash of oil directly to the pan. Once the oil starts separating, it’s hot enough to add the steak. Whichever method you use, the important thing is to get an even spread of oil.

Don’t be tempted to put your steak in early  if the oil is too cool, your meat could turn out greasy and under-browned.

Dressing your steak

Beef purists may prefer to take in the unadulterated rich flavour of a quality steak by adding nothing other than a few twists of salt and pepper. However, don’t season too early - salt will draw moisture from the meat. Gordon Ramsay suggests sprinkling black pepper and sea salt onto a plate, then pressing the meat into the seasoning moments before placing it into the pan.

You could try dry-spicing your steak with coriander seeds, or go really heavy on the cracked black pepper by adding half a teaspoon per steak.

Others like to enhance flavour and tenderise the meat with a marinade. Balsamic vinegar will reduce down to a sweet glaze, as will a coating of honey & mustard. You can add an Asian dimension to your beef with a miso or teriyaki marinade.

How do you like it?

Our cookery team have outlined what you can expect from each category of steak.

  • Blue: Should still be a dark colour, almost purple, and just warm. It will feel spongy with no resistance.
  • Rare: Dark red in colour with some juice flowing.  It will feel soft and spongy with slight resistance.
  • Medium-rare: A more pink colour with a little pink juice flowing.  It will be a bit soft and spongy and slightly springy.
  • Medium: Pale pink in the middle with hardly any juice flowing. It will feel firm and springy.
  • Well-done: Only a trace of pink colour but not dry.  It will feel spongy and soft and slightly springy.

Get cooking

It s very important to consider the size and weight of your steak before calculating the cooking time. If you re unsure, take advantage of the expert eye of your butcher who should be able to tell you how long you need to cook your meat.

We recommend the following cooking times for a 3.5cm thick fillet steak:

  • Blue: About 1mins each side
  • Rare: About 2mins each side
  • Medium-rare: About 3mins each side
  • Medium: About 4mins each side

We also recommend the following for a 2cm thick sirloin steak:

  • Blue: About 1min each side
  • Rare: About 1.5min per side
  • Medium rare: About 2 mins per side
  • Medium: About 2mins per side

For a well-done steak, cook for about 4-5 minutes each side, depending on thickness.

Check your steak is cooked correctly

Use your fingers to prod the cooked steak - when rare it will feel soft, medium-rare will be lightly bouncy, and well-done will be much firmer.

Leave it to rest

A cooked steak should rest at room temperature for at least five minutes - it will stay warm for anything up to 10 minutes. Here, pure science comes into play - the fibres of the meat will reabsorb the free-running juices resulting in a moist and tender finish to your steak.

Serve up!

Ingredients

  • 1-1.4kg/2-2.3lb boned and rolled brisket
  • 5 tbsp vegetable oil
  • large knob of butter
    2 large onions, halved and sliced
  • 2-3 celery sticks, finely chopped
  • 2 carrots, sliced
  • 200-250g/8-9oz large flat mushrooms, stalks chopped and heads thinly sliced
  • 500-550ml bottle brown ale or stout
  • a few fresh thyme sprigs
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1-2 tsp light muscovado sugar
  • 500g parsnips, cut into wedges
  • 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
  • chopped fresh parsley or thyme, to serve

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 190C/Gas 5/fan oven 170C. Wash and dry brisket and season. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a deep casserole and brown beef all over. Remove from pan. Turn down heat, add butter and fry the onions, celery, carrots and mushroom stalks for 6-8 minutes.
  2. Return beef to pan and add beer, thyme, bay leaves and sugar. Add water if necessary so the liquid comes about two-thirds up the beef. Season, bring to a simmer, cover tightly, and cook in the oven for 20 minutes. Reduce heat to 160C/Gas 3/fan oven 140C and cook for 2 hours, turning twice, until tender.
  3. An hour before the beef is done, toss the parsnips in oil, season and roast on a baking tray above the beef for 50 minutes-1 hour until tender, turning once.
  4. Turn oven up to 190C/Gas 5/fan oven 170C. Lift out the beef, tent with foil and keep warm. Stir the parsnips and mushroom caps into the beef juices. Check seasoning; add water if needed. Cover and cook in the oven for 20-25 minutes until mushrooms are tender.
  5. To serve, use a slotted spoon to remove vegetables and arrange round the beef. Spoon off the excess fat from the juices, then whisk in the mustard and pour into a jug. Moisten the beef with a little juice and scatter with parsley or thyme.

as seen on BBC Good Food

Ingredients

  • 1kg silverside or topside of beef, with no added fat (see tip, below)
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 8 young carrots, tops trimmed (but leave a little, if you like)
  • 1 celery stick, finely chopped
  • 200ml white wine
  • 600ml rich beef stock
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 500g onions
  • a few thyme sprigs
  • 1 tsp butter
  • 1 tsp light brown or light muscovado sugar
  • 2 tsp plain flour

Method

  1. Heat oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3. Rub the meat with 1 tsp of the oil and plenty of seasoning. Heat a large flameproof casserole dish and brown the meat all over for about 10 mins. Meanwhile, add 2 tsp oil to a frying pan and fry the carrots and celery for 10 mins until turning golden.
  2. Lift the beef onto a plate, splash the wine into the hot casserole and boil for 2 mins. Pour in the stock, return the beef, then tuck in the carrots, celery and bay leaves, trying not to submerge the carrots too much. Cover and cook in the oven for 2 hrs. (I like to turn the beef halfway through cooking.)
  3. Meanwhile, thinly slice the onions. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan and stir in the onions, thyme and some seasoning. Cover and cook gently for 20 mins until the onions are softened but not coloured. Remove the lid, turn up the heat, add the butter and sugar, then let the onions caramelise to a dark golden brown, stirring often. Remove the thyme sprigs, then set aside.
  4. When the beef is ready, it will be tender and easy to pull apart at the edges. Remove it from the casserole and snip off the strings. Reheat the onion pan, stir in the flour and cook for 1 min. Whisk the floury onions into the beefy juices in the casserole, to make a thick onion gravy. Taste for seasoning. Add the beef and carrots back to the casserole, or slice the beef and bring to the table on a platter, with the carrots to the side and the gravy spooned over.

as seen on BBC Good Food

Ingredients

For the turkey

  • 5-5kg oven-ready turkey, neck and giblets removed
  • 1 quantity Sausage & Bramley stuffing (see recipe, ‘Goes well with’)
  • 1 large onion, quartered
  • 1 lemon, halved
  • a few bay leaves
  • 85g soft butter
  • 10 rashers streaky bacon
  • 150ml dry white or red wine

For the make-ahead gravy

  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 large onion, finely chopped
  • 1 carrot, finely chopped
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 50g plain flour
  • 300ml strong chicken stock, plus extra if necessary

Method

  1. First make the gravy  - you can do this several days ahead. Heat the oil in a non- stick pan and fry the onion and carrot with the bay leaf for 10 mins, stirring frequently, until softened and golden. Meanwhile, blend the flour with 300ml cold water to make a smooth paste.
  2. Remove the bay leaf from the pan and pour in the stock, closely followed by the flour mixture, stirring all the time until thickened. Leave to bubble for 5-10 mins, stirring frequently, then blitz with a hand blender until completely smooth. Pour into a bowl and cover the surface of the gravy with cling film or baking parchment to prevent a skin forming as it cools. Chill.
  3. Weigh the turkey (you may need to use bathroom scales) and calculate the cooking time by allowing 40 mins per kg for a 4.5-6.5kg turkey, then 35 mins for every kg of turkey over that weight. As a guide, a turkey this size should take 3 hrs 20 mins-3 hrs 40 mins, plus 30-45 mins resting time.
  4. Pack the stuffing into the neck end of the turkey, smoothing down the skin and tucking it under the bird for a neat finish. Put the onion and lemon, with some bay leaves, inside the cavity. Spread the butter over the skin that covers the breasts and lay the streaky bacon on top, to cover and protect each breast and seal in the butter. Can be done the night before, but take out of the fridge 1hr before roasting so that it comes back to room temperature.
  5. On the day, heat oven to 180C/160C fan/ gas 4. Lay the turkey on a large sheet of double-thickness foil, long enough to completely cover it, then lift into a roasting tin and season well. Pour the wine inside the cavity, then bring the foil up over the top of the turkey and seal it well. Roast for the calculated cooking time. For the final 40 mins, open the foil and remove the bacon (serve alongside the turkey or save it for a turkey sandwich). Pour off all of the cooking juices and use a little of the buttery oil that rises to the top to baste the bird. Roast until the turkey is golden and the juices that run out of the thigh are clear, with no sign of pink, when pierced with a skewer. (If you are using a digital thermometer, the thigh should be cooked to 80C and the breast to 75C.) Leave to rest on a warm platter, covered with foil and tea towels, for up to 45 mins.
  6. While the turkey is roasting for the final 40 mins, skim the fat from the pan juices and pour into a jug. The amount of juices you get is dependent on the type of turkey that you are cooking, as speciality bronze turkeys will give you less juice than a white turkey - so make up to 600ml with chicken stock if you need to. Tip the gravy base into a pan, gently heat it with a little of the turkey juices to loosen the consistency, then gradually blend in the remainder and cook until bubbling. Season.
  7. To serve, carve the turkey in the kitchen and arrange on a hot platter with a little of the hot gravy poured over, or bring the whole bird to the table. Any leftover meat can be frozen in the gravy.

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